Hamburg's Heiko Westermann has been drafted into the Germany squad for clash with Ireland

Heiko Westermann in action in his last appearance for Germany, in a friendly against Sweden in November 2010

Hamburg's Heiko Westermann has been drafted into the Germany squad for Friday’s World Cup qualifier against Ireland after Mats Hummels was forced to withdraw.

Hummels was ruled out of the two games after severely bruising his right foot in Borussia Dortmund's 1-1 draw against Hannover at the weekend.

He was the second Dortmund player to withdraw from Joachim Low's group after Ilkay Gundogan was ruled out after picking up an injury in training on Saturday while Bayer Leverkusen's Lars Bender also pulled out at the weekend.

Westermann, who used to play as a midfielder for his former club Schalke and can therefore cover the losses both of Bender and Hummels, was called up for what could be his first appearance in almost two years.

The 29-year-old last represented his country when he won his 24th cap in the 0-0 draw against Sweden on 17 November, 2010.